The Portland Parks Bureau denied a request by Hempstalk Festival to hold their 10th annual event at Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland, citing crowd control and traffic issues as well as drug concerns. Organizers deny the allegations.
(Ross William Hamilton/The Oregonian)

The
Bureau of Parks & Recreation denied a permit request for the two-day festival,
scheduled to be held at Portland's Tom McCall Waterfront Park in September, in
a scathing letter sent to event organizers last month.

Hempstalk
Festival was founded by the Hemp and Cannabis Foundation and serves as part-celebration,
part-advocacy effort for the legalization of marijuana for recreational and
industrial uses, according to the group's website.

City
officials said that after observing the 2013 edition of Hempstalk at North
Portland's Kelley Point Park, they concluded the event posed, "an unreasonable
risk to public safety and public health and to the physical integrity of the
park."

The
news caught Paul Stanford, organizer of the festival, off-guard.

"I
was shocked," Stanford said Monday. "Shocked and dismayed."

Stanford,
a long-time proponent of marijuana legalization and a backer of a 2014 ballot
initiative to legalize pot, said he received assurances from city officials
that the 10th annual event would be approved.

Parks
officials say that's not true.

Stanford and fellow Hempstalk organizers
appealed the permit decision to the Portland City Council, which will discuss
the issue Thursday afternoon.

"We're hoping the City Council will go ahead and
approve the permit," Stanford said. "If not, we'll go to court."

Beyond the court option, Stanford said the festival
"doesn't have any other options on the table."

Shawn
Rogers, customer service center manager for the Parks Bureau, penned the rejection
letter. Among his points: "Your demonstrated inability to manage traffic,
litter, illegal camping, illegal structures and illegal use of alcohol and
drugs" contributed to the public safety and public health concerns.

View full sizePaul Stanford, as seen during the 2012 campaign for his measure to legalize marijuana in Oregon. Stanford said currently, there are no other options on the table for a new Hempstalk location.

Event
workers were "deliberately indifferent to the rampant presence, sale and use of
marijuana," the rebuttal letter alleged. After nine years and significant
growth in the popularity and attendance of the festival, "the
Hempstalk organization's ability to manage the festival has not grown," said Jennifer Yocom, parks community
relations manager.

The
2013 Hempstalk event was the last straw, according to city officials.

"The
denial wasn't based on place," said Tim Crail, policy advisor for Commissioner
Amanda Fritz, who oversees the Parks Bureau. "It was based on past behavior."

Parks officials said this was the first wholesale rejection of a returning event in at least 20 years. The bureau typically works with applicants to
refine permit requests. But Yocom said Hempstalk had a track record.

"The incidents were not isolated," she added.

Police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson concurred.

"Similar
public safety concerns have been noted and ignored by event organizers," he
said.

On
Monday, Stanford said he just learned of the detailed police report posted on
the city's website as part of the hearing packet.

Waterfront
Park wouldn't be a new venue for Hempstalk. Organizers held the event there in 2005 and 2006, Yocom
said. The 2007 festival was held on Sellwood's riverfront. The 2008 edition was
in the Vera Katz Eastbank Festival Plaza. From 2009 until 2013, Kelley Point
Park hosted the festival, which drew an estimated 80,000 people last year.

Stanford
called the denial "outrageous," in his response to the city.

Stanford
said the city unfairly burdened the festival in 2013 with the last-minute
demand that they add 30 more security officers. He said concerns about issues
such as illegal camping and parking would be fixed by moving the festival to
Waterfront Park. Attendees could take mass transit or use parking garages in
the central city, a luxury not available at Kelley Point.

Stanford
cited Seattle's Hempfest as a model that Portland should emulate, calling the
event "a huge beneficial economic and cultural" event for the city.

The
city's allegations about cleanliness and rampant drug use aren't true, Stanford
said.

"They're
painting us with a bad brush," he said, saying event organizers kicked out more
than 100 people last year for violating rules on marijuana use.

Stanford
said regardless of the outcome, he's confident Hempstalk has "a long future in
Portland."